The Interaction of Polyphenols with Membrane Transporters

Dear Colleagues,

Membrane transport systems are essential components of cellular and body homeostasis, as they control the traffic of most biomolecules across membranes. Membrane transport systems, which include organelle and cell membrane transporters, are fundamental for cellular processes such as cell nutrition, ionic balance and metabolism. At the organism level, they are fundamental for nutrition, excretion, pharmacokinetics, therapeutic effects and toxicity of xenobiotics.

Plant-derived polyphenolic compounds are bioactive compounds which have been extensively studied in the last few decades because of their high abundance in the human diet and their potential role in the prevention and treatment of various diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases, associated with oxidative stress. In most cases, these compounds must use membrane transporters in order to cross biological membranes, and so their biological effects will depend on membrane transporters. In addition to their antioxidant properties, polyphenols have several other specific biological actions, such as interference with the activity and expression of several membrane transporters.

Thus, membrane transporters affect the absorption, distribution, biological activity and excretion of polyphenols, and polyphenols have the ability to interfere with several specific transporters. This rather complex interaction between polyphenols and membrane transporters will be explored in the present issue.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Membrane transporters involved in the oral absorption, biological activity, hepatic biotransformation, biliary and urinary excretion of polyphenols

Membrane transporters for polyphenols at the blood–brain barrier

The effect of polyphenols on ABC transporters

The effect of polyphenols on nutrient transporters

The effect of polyphenols on drug transporters

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antioxidants is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Polyphenols 
• Membrane transporters 
• Antioxidants